<i>Kurosato Nama Daifuku</i>: In Which Midge Pushes the <i>Mochi</i> Envelope

For perfect mornings: a good dose of Zola and nama daifuku

I like a challenge.  I love pushing the envelope to see how far I can take something and how well I can do it.  Especially where writing and food are concerned, I am never satisfied with how my work turns out.  I always think I can do better, I can tweak it a bit more, I could still improve whatever it was I was working on.

Last month’s exercise in the making of mochi and, subsequently, nama daifuku was fun, was quite challenging, and made for impressive results.  However, as stated above, I still felt that I could push the project to its limits.  I wanted to see what else I could get away with as far as taking this classic Japanese confection out of the box was concerned.

I’ve long been fascinated with kurosato or Okinawan black sugar.  It’s not exactly black, but more of an extremely dark brown.  The closest analog for it in this part of the world (and probably any place that isn’t Okinawa) is soft dark muscovado sugar.  Both of them have the somewhat resiny, almost honeyed taste of molasses and, when used in cooking, both give the finished product a beautiful brown appearance and a rather smoky, complex sort of sweetness that makes diners wonder if any woody / nutty spices were involved.

The use of muscovado sugar (in lieu of real kurosato at the moment) in the making of mochi results in a stodgier result than the chewy-gummy sort made with white sugar alone.  Interestingly, everyone who tried this particular version of nama daifuku declared that it was most satisfying and the taste was rather interesting: somewhat rich and nutty despite the fact that no nuts were used in the making of the rice dough.  Incidentally, these are also more stable at room temperature – which is to say they don’t go all floppy and sticky – than daifuku made with white sugar.

Since I used dark brown sugar in the making of the mochi, I decided to amp up the dark sugar theme by using dark rum as the alcohol in the recipe as opposed to a flavored vodka.  Since the alcohol evaporates in the steaming of the dough, what is left is a rather honeyed taste that goes very well with the rum truffles wrapped in the dough.

The only odd thing here is that the mochi itself didn’t cook to a dark mass: it came out a rather puzzling shade of beige!  In fact, when rolled out and dusted with rice flour, it’s easy to mistake these little bites for Russian tea cakes or bite-sized espasol (a mochi-like confection made in Southern Luzon with coconut milk).  Once you take a bite, though, it becomes a truly unusual – even sensual – gustatory experience.

One last thing: when making the ganache for the truffles, I recommend the use of one of the darker single origin chocolates.  A smoky Ecuador or an aromatic Mexico would be nice, though you cannot go wrong with a hit of rich Sao Thome.  Be sure to use dark chocs that have 65% or more cocoa solids.

Kurosato Nama Daifuku

For the ganache:

• 300 grams 65% – 70% dark chocolate, broken up
• 250 mL all-purpose cream
• 3 tablespoons dark rum (Personally, I recommend a five-year-old Tanduay)

For the mochi:

• 2 cups glutinous rice flour
• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/4 cup muscovado [dark brown] sugar
• 2 tablespoons dark rum + enough water to yield 1-1/3 cups liquid
• more rice flour for dusting

Make the ganache by melting together the chocolate, cream, and rum over medium heat.  Stir until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is very smooth.  Allow to cool for a few minutes, then pour into a freezer-safe container.  Cover and freeze overnight.

Start on the mochi by whisking together all the ingredients save the flour for dusting in a saucepan until well combined.  Cook over medium heat whilst stirring until the mixture is thick and viscous.  Allow to cool for a bit, then put the mixture into a heatproof bowl with a wet silicon spatula.  Cover with aluminum foil and place in a steamer.  Cook the dough for an additional fifteen minutes.

Remove the dough from the steamer and carefully ease it onto a cookie sheet dusted over with rice flour; use a wet silicon spatula to help it out of the bowl.  Dust the hot dough with rice flour and carefully flatten it down with your palms.  Leave to cool for a few minutes; in the meantime, measure out the frozen ganache into 1/2-teaspoon portions.

Cut the dusted dough into 40 pieces.  Make the daifuku by flattening each piece between your palms.  Place a lump of ganache in the middle of each disk, bring the edges together, and pinch to seal.  Repeat with the remaining dough and chocolate.  Place in a covered dish and chill until ready to serve.

Makes 40.

Advertisement